Friday, July 24, 2020
Recycling Renewables and Sustainable Business 45
1 Chemists make tough plastics recyclable
http://news.mit.edu/2020/tough-thermoset-plastics-recyclable-0722
Thermosets, which include epoxies, polyurethanes, and rubber used for tires, are found in many products that have to be durable and heat-resistant, such as cars or electrical appliances. One drawback to these materials is that they typically cannot be easily recycled or broken down after use, because the chemical bonds holding them together are stronger than those found in other materials such as thermoplastics.
2 Strong efforts to reduce plastic could still leave 710 million tons in the environment by 2040, study suggests
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/plastic-reduction-1.5659383
Plastic pollution is ubiquitous, seemingly found in every nook and cranny around the world, from some of the deepest parts of the oceans, to the Arctic, to drinking water.
But a new paper published in the journal Science on Thursday suggests that, with global efforts, we can drastically reduce the amount of plastic waste found on land and in our oceans, though eliminating it entirely isn’t likely.
3 How climate change is leading to ‘a redistribution of life on Earth’
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/how-climate-change-is-leading-to-a-redistribution-of-life-on-earth-1.5661871
Pacific salmon used to be so unfamiliar in Arctic waters that many communities don’t have local words for the fish, and there are stories of harvesters feeding them to their dogs.
But in recent years, chum, pink and sockeye salmon have been showing up in so many fishing nets that Fisheries and Oceans Canada has been keeping track.
4 First active leak of sea-bed methane discovered in Antarctica
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/22/first-active-leak-of-sea-bed-methane-discovered-in-antarctica
The first active leak of methane from the sea floor in Antarctica has been revealed by scientists.
The researchers also found microbes that normally consume the potent greenhouse gas before it reaches the atmosphere had only arrived in small numbers after five years, allowing the gas to escape.
Vast quantities of methane are thought to be stored under the sea floor around Antarctica. The gas could start to leak as the climate crisis warms the oceans, a prospect the researchers said was “incredibly concerning”.
5 Hydrogen Is A Top Contender In The Race To Zero Carbon
https://www.forbes.com/sites/uhenergy/2020/07/23/hydrogen-is-a-top-contender-in-the-race-to-zero-carbon/
The goals of 100% renewable energy and zero carbon emissions are at the forefront of all energy transition/transformation conversations. However, the prospect of fully electrifying certain sectors of the transportation industry is daunting because of electricity’s limited capabilities regarding heavy-vehicle transportation. Tesla says its electric-powered Semi model will be available later this year, but the reality is electric power coupled with battery storage is not yet powerful enough to realistically and sustainably power things like trains, ships and big-rig trucks.
6 Uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) in Europe
https://www.argusmedia.com/pages/NewsBody.aspx?id=2125912&menu=yes
Incentives by national governments across Europe have led to an increase in the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) in the region in recent months, while general auto sales worldwide have fallen.
French auto giant Renault disclosed record sales in June for its flagship EV the Renault Zoe, in the latest of a series of indications about EV uptake in Europe. Sales of the Zoe in Europe were above 11,000 units last month, according to Jean-Paul Drei, product development manager at Renault.
7 Tesla big battery at Hornsdale delivers world record output of 150MW
https://reneweconomy.com.au/tesla-big-battery-at-hornsdale-delivers-world-record-output-of-150mw-26392/
The Hornsdale Power Reserve – more commonly known as the Tesla big battery – has set a new record for itself, and the world, in terms of output from a lithium-ion battery, feeding 150MW into the South Australia grid as it continues its complex series of tests.
The injection of 150MW occurred in the 2.25pm trading interval on Tuesday, July 21. It represents the maximum output from the upgraded battery, whose capacity and storage is being expanded from the already world leading 100MW/129MWh to a total of 150MW/194MWh.
8 More than 60% of energy used for electricity generation is lost in conversion
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44436
In 2019, U.S. utility-scale generation facilities consumed 38 quadrillion British thermal units (quads) of energy to provide 14 quads of electricity. Most of the difference between these values was lost as an inherent result of the energy conversion process. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) U.S. electricity flow diagram visualizes U.S. electricity flow from energy sources consumed to generate electricity and electricity net imports to disposition (conversion and other losses, plant use, and end-use consumption).
9 Renewables topped fossil fuels in EU electricity generation for first time through June 2020
https://ieefa.org/renewables-topped-fossil-fuels-in-eu-electricity-generation-for-first-time-through-june-2020/
Europe’s long goodbye to coal is speeding up, in a transition smoothed by the rise of wind and solar power and energy policy that has priced the fossil fuel out of many markets, according to data released on Wednesday.
Renewable sources of power have taken over for the first time in 2020, generating 40% of European Union electricity, while fossil fuels generated 34%, independent think-tank Ember said in a half-yearly report.
10 IEEFA: Despite the talk, Shell and Total are still investing much more in fossil fuels than renewables
https://ieefa.org/ieefa-despite-the-talk-shell-and-total-are-still-investing-much-more-in-fossil-fuels-than-renewables/
While Shell and Total are shifting towards renewable energy technologies, around 90% of their capital continues to be spent on fossil fuels, finds a new report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
To reach their own stated targets, IEEFA estimates that Shell and Total each needs to shift at least $10bn per annum (or 50% of total capital expenditure) from oil and gas exploration and invest into accelerating their renewable strategies.
11 World’s Largest Green Hydrogen Project Unveiled in Saudi Arabia
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/us-firm-unveils-worlds-largest-green-hydrogen-project
Air Products & Chemicals, the U.S. industrial gas giant, announced plans on Tuesday to build a green hydrogen plant in Saudi Arabia powered by 4 gigawatts of wind and solar power, the world’s largest such project announced so far.
The $5 billion plant will be jointly owned by Air Products, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and Neom, a new mega-city planned near Saudi Arabia’s borders with Egypt and Jordan.
12 European paper recycling rate reaches 72% in 2019
https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/materials/paper/european-recycling-rate-reaches-72-2019-20-07-2020
The EPRC said this rate was achieved due to a stable utilisation of Paper for Recycling (PfR) in the European paper industry.
The council said that a good signal towards more sustainability is the fact that the collection of Paper for Recycling was maintained at high levels in Europe despite a decrease in paper and board consumption in Europe.
The sharp and continued decline in Chinese demand for European Paper for Recycling was balanced by increased demand from other countries such as Turkey and India.
13 Morgan Stanley Becomes First U.S. Bank To Measure Carbon Footprint Of Its Loans
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/Morgan-Stanley-Becomes-First-US-Bank-To-Measure-Carbon-Footprint-Of-Its-Loans.html
Morgan Stanley has become the first U.S. bank to start measuring the emissions generated by the businesses it lends to and invests in, the bank said in a press release.
The bank will do this as a member of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials—an organization set up last year to pursue the standardization of so-called carbon accounting in the banking and financial services sector in a bid to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the businesses banks lend to and invest in.
14 Long-Term Value of Grid Storage Is All About Capacity, Study Finds
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/long-term-value-of-grid-storage-is-all-about-capacity-study-finds
The grid is heading in the direction of more renewables, with or without overarching policies to guide it. There’s general agreement that the ability to store electricity will become more valuable as this happens, but the exact value of energy storage in a dynamically evolving electrical system is hard to pin down.
A new study from current and former MIT energy system modelers attempts to quantify this. Rather than looking at the value of a single battery project, or the role of energy storage in a fully decarbonized grid, as previous studies have contemplated, the researchers tested the value of energy storage as the grid’s wind and solar penetration increases to 50 percent and beyond, and as energy storage deployment grows. These dynamics will play out in many parts of the grid over the next 15 or 20 years.
15 The Key To Better Batteries Is Soft Solid Electrolytes, Say Researchers
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/07/22/the-key-to-better-batteries-is-soft-solid-electrolytes-say-researchers/
The bane of battery scientists are little things called dendrites — little spikes of lithium that can pierce battery cells and lead to fires or explosions. Like the stalagmites and stalactites found in underground caves, those dendrites grow larger and stronger over time, particularly during charging cycles.
16 EU needs to increase offshore energy production twenty times
https://www.neweurope.eu/article/eu-needs-to-increase-offshore-energy-production-twenty-times/
The European Commission launched on July 22 a public consultation on its future EU Offshore Renewable Energy Strategy, which will be adopted later this year.
“To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, we need to increase EU’s offshore energy production twenty times,” EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said. “This means making it easier to build large-scale offshore wind parks in an environmentally sustainable way. We must also use the potential of other renewable sources such as offshore solar energy as well as new opportunities of tidal and ocean energy.”
17 Tesla boss Musk’s desire for more nickel could be a non-starter
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-metals-nickel-ahome-column-idUSKCN24P1PJ
Elon Musk faces something of a reality check after his call this week for more nickel mines to feed the batteries that Tesla and other carmakers need to power their electric vehicles.
The market’s fortunes remain beholden not to the battery supply chain but to the much larger stainless steel sector, and nickel prices are hovering around levels that are more likely to force out existing operators than entice new ones.
And it is concern about the state of the stainless steel market that is dampening nickel’s prospects.
